Trisha Jackson, Ph.D. is the Director of Regenerative Agriculture for PraireFood™. She hails from central Kansas, where she learned to value prairies and rural communities. Her educational and personal adventures took her around the world, where she admired diverse cultures, foods, landscapes, and agriculture.

Through her graduate studies in soil science, environmental studies, and climatology, she came to understand how regenerative agricultural practices build healthy soil to create truly resilient communities brimming with nutrient-dense food, clean water, and plentiful wildlife.

With these values in mind, she was pleased to join the PrairieFood team to help ensure that rich, fertile soil is the number one crop.

Dr. Silva is an Associate Professor in the Plant Pathology Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Her research and extension program focuses on sustainable and organic cropping systems, including cover crops and cover crop-based no-till production, variety selection in organic environments, and the impact of organic management on soil biological and physical properties.

Erin has launched a comprehensive organic grain training program for farmers in the upper Midwest, “OGRAIN”. Erin works closely with organic farmers and industry members both in Wisconsin and throught the upper Midwest and serves on the Wisconsin Organic Advisory Council.

Organic Grain Resource and Information Network Website: https://ograin.cals.wisc.edu/

Rick Clark is a 5th generation farmer from Williamsport, IN. The main goal on the farm is to build soil health and achieve balance with Mother Nature. Rick has developed and constantly improves a systematic approach to regenerative farming. The farm strives to be a low cost input producer, while maintaining an increase in yield year over year. The farm is 100% NGMO, 100% no till, and 100% cover crop. Rick is currently transitioning the 7000 acre farm to organic. He is most proud of developing a system of organic farming that uses no tillage. He will suppress weeds with cover crops. Rick cares deeply about human health as well, that is one of the main drivers behind the organic no till style of farming. Rick is building a system that will be viable and sustainable for generations to come.

A few years ago, Rick describes, the farm went through a major rain event. “We had a one-inch rain event on the farm right after we had freshly tilled some soil,” recalls Rick. “I could not believe how far that soil had moved in the ditch and was ready to leave the farm. That was enough.” What started as a desire to solve for discrete challenges on the farm—increasing soil resiliency in response to an eroding rain event—has transformed into a systematic dedication to building soil health across the operation. Farming Green, as Rick calls it, now encompasses a suite of conservation practices including planting cash crops directly into cover crops, no-till practices, rotational grazing livestock, and reducing inputs and energy use on the operation.